Six Eyes' Woods
by Seiji
Summary: People are disappearing in the forest. Flik and Viktor investigate. incomplete
1. There is a graveyard in my poor heart

**Six Eyes' Woods**  
a Suikoden I & II fic by Seiji

* * *

**Disclaimer:** "Suikoden" is a trademark of Konami Co., Ltd. © 1995-2004. These characters do not belong to Seiji.

**Note:** Although set a few years after Suikoden 2, the action in this fic takes place somewhere north of the general area of Suikoden 3.

**Warning:** Gen fic by a yaoi fan. Proceed with caution.

* * *

**I**: _There is a graveyard in my poor heart_

The haunting of Eyes' Woods was the latest gossip at the Hunter's Leap inn. When they heard that Flik was heading for Eyrin--on the far side of the forest and ten-days distant--the proprietor and his wife told him all about it. They couldn't say if a master blacksmith still lived in Eyrin, but they could tell him more than he'd ever wished to know about the habits of lonely ghosts.

"It just makes sense," the wife said. "Think about it. Most people are lucky enough to die where there's other people around, right?" Her husband nodded, and she continued. "If they end up needing to haunt something, there's no problem--they've got a house, or even a village, full of people right there. But those poor ghosts in the forest, who have they got?"

_Each other_, Flik wanted to say, but the innkeeper was busy speculating about how the ghosts were luring travellers to their deaths, while his wife insisted that the ghosts weren't violent--the victims were all magically asleep deep in the woods somewhere.

A few minutes later, when they both finally paused for breath at the same time, Flik asked about the victims. Their answers were vague, and he was soon convinced that no one had actually gone missing.

Flik was still chuckling over their enthusiasm for the unlikely tale as he went to join Viktor at the tavern next door. The place was dim-lit and crowded, but he spotted Viktor right away. He was sitting with several other men--merchants from the look of them--and seemed more displeased than Flik would have thought possible given his proximity to an ample supply of beer. Perhaps he needed a refill.

Flik stopped at the bar and asked the young woman there for two ales. If her rather unfortunate nose was anything to go by, she was the innkeeper's daughter and the source of their ghostly gossip. He dropped a coin on the counter and took the tankards from her, glad that she was too busy to talk.

One of the men was saying something about ghosts being good for business when Flik arrived at the table. Viktor was frowning and staring into his beer, which--Flik was surprised to see--was more than half full. Flik set their tankards down and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Don't you like the local brew?"

Viktor jerked at his touch, sloshing beer onto the table. "Lightning? When did you get here?"

"Just now," Flik said. "Move over."

Viktor looked puzzled, but slid over on the bench. Flik sat down and quirked a brow at him.

"I... uh... didn't see you come in," Viktor mumbled.

"Really? I couldn't tell." Flik smiled and nodded at the other men, then took a tentative sip of the ale. It tasted fine.

"Your name is Lightning?" the merchant who'd been speaking earlier asked.

"It's Flik."

"Why'd he call you 'Lightning', then?" the first man asked as another--a big man in a dark red suit--said, "Heh, 'Lightning' sounds better."

"It's a nickname," Flik explained.

"Were you--" The third man, who looked a few years younger than Flik, stopped, gulped, and tried again. "Were you struck by lightning?"

"What?" Flik almost laughed.

"Your hair," the young man said. "Did lightning do that?"

Flik blinked and touched the blaze in his hair. "No. I was... just born like this."

"Oh," the man whispered, sounding strangely reverent. "I see." He continued to stare at Flik, and Flik smiled awkwardly back at him.

_Weird kid._

Flik turned to see how Viktor was enjoying the exchange, but Viktor was frowning into his beer again as if he wasn't aware of his surroundings.

"Viktor." When he didn't get an answer, Flik elbowed him. "Viktor!"

"Huh?" Viktor looked up. "Oh..."

"You okay?"

"Yeah." Viktor stood up. "Uh, excuse me. I've gotta go... you know." He gestured vaguely and left.

"Heh," Red Suit said. "And I thought all of us big guys held our liquor well."

Weird Kid nodded. "That's what they say."

Flik considered going after him, but if Viktor had only left to relieve himself, he'd feel stupid for worrying. He sighed and offered Ghost Guy the extra ale.

"So, why are ghosts good for business?"

  
An hour later, Viktor still hadn't returned. Flik wished the merchants a good evening and went to look for him. Their room at the inn was empty, though Viktor had obviously been there. The Star Dragon Sword glowered at Flik until he picked it up off the floor.

"Do you know what's bothering him?" Flik asked as he carefully leaned the sword against the wall.

"The same problem as always," the sword said.

"What's that?"

"Brain the size of a walnut."

"Ah." Last week, it had been a hazelnut, but the sword wouldn't appreciate it if Flik pointed out that Viktor's brain was growing.

He checked at the front desk. The innkeeper hadn't seen Viktor. His wife suggested a walk towards the river. It was nearly a full moon, and the Leap was "lovely in moonlight"--all their customers said so. Flik didn't care to go sight-seeing, but it was a place to start.

Hunter's Leap was a small town on the eastern bank of the Grey River. As Viktor had observed when they first encountered it, "Grey" was a boring name for an equally boring river. The river was wide and sluggish, except at Hunter's Leap where it narrowed and its banks became steep. If one was sufficiently daring, it was said--or drunk, Flik thought--one could jump a horse over the river at its narrowest point. There was a statue at that point commemorating the town's founder--a fool who had, as far as Flik could tell, done nothing more than recklessly endanger his horse on a regular basis.

The inn was on the edge of town, so it took only a few minutes to reach the Leap. Flik spared a moment to glance at the river. Even moonlit, it wasn't particularly lovely. The white stone statue glowed nicely in the moonlight, though. He shrugged and turned, and something caught the corner of his eye. He spun back around, and there was Viktor sitting under the rearing stone horse.

The statue's pedestal was chest-level to Flik. It was not an insurmountable obstacle, but he didn't want to scramble up there if he wasn't welcome. He raised his hand and cleared his throat.

"Give me a lift."

Viktor met his gaze and not-quite smiled. Then, he reached out and hauled Flik up like he weighed no more than a sack of flour. Once he was up, Viktor scooted over and patted the horse's left hind leg.

"Pull up a leg, Flik--they make great backrests."

Flik settled beside him. "So..." he said.

The night was quiet except for the low rush of the Grey through its narrows. Flik watched a cloud drift across the face of the moon and waited. Eventually, Viktor shifted restively.

"I don't like this place."

Flik had figured that much out already.

"There's no such thing as ghosts," Viktor continued. "Not that I blame these people for not knowing..." Viktor paused and glanced at him. Flik nodded. "Maybe they can't know. Maybe they don't have enough proof, but I do. If there were ghosts, North Window would have been haunted--haunted a hundred times over... But there weren't... Not even one..."

In the past, Viktor had gone to great lengths to avoid speaking of North Window's dead. Flik was almost absurdly grateful that Viktor was willing to say this much now. He reached out and squeezed Viktor's hand.

"We can leave at first light."

"Really?" Viktor asked. He sounded eager.

"Sure."

"We haven't restocked yet."

Flik had made some purchases that afternoon. It wasn't a lot, but...

"We've got enough," he assured Viktor. They could pick up the bare essentials in Meenoma.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Great!" Viktor said. "It sounds like a plan." He slung his arm around Flik's shoulders. "Just one thing, though."

"What's that?"

"Getting up before first light is inhumane. Let's wait until after breakfast."

Flik laughed and sat with Viktor until he was ready to return to the inn.

  
That night, Viktor talked in his sleep. Flik lay awake listening for awhile, before he rolled up tightly in his blanket and wrapped his hand securely around _Odessa_'s hilt.

Viktor was more right than he knew. Places weren't haunted--only people were.

Memory could be crueler than the loneliest ghost.

* * *

**Notes:**

(1) Chapter title is from "Drifts that Bar My Door" by Adah Isaacs Menken, from the poetry collection, Infelicia, published in 1873.

(2) Special thanks to Sami for her place name suggestions. 


	2. I see her yet, that darkeyed one

**II**: _I see her yet, that dark-eyed one_

Although Flik and Viktor didn't hear of it until their second night on the road, the hidden ninja village in Eyes' Woods was the hottest topic on the way to Meenoma.

It had started to drizzle that afternoon, and Viktor soon declared that he wasn't walking another step, not in such perfect weather.

"'Perfect'?" Flik said. "For what?"

"Wallowing about in the mud?" the Star Dragon Sword suggested. "He is, after all, a--"

"For fishing," Viktor said. "And when I want the opinion of a glorified pig-sticker, I'll ask for it."

"The only swine I'm going to stab is--"

"Fine," Flik said. "Fishing it is."

They staked their tent by the side of the river, and Viktor set out to prove that fish really did bite better in the rain. Flik stayed under the shelter and read a book that he'd traded for a few villages back.

Two hours later, the rain had tapered off. Viktor was having a grand time cleaning fish while both Flik and the Star Dragon Sword threatened him with bodily harm if he didn't keep his fish guts to himself. He had just flicked a few scales at the sword, when a man with a cartload of apples stopped at their camp.

"The bridge at Meenoma is out," the man announced.

"Really?" Viktor shot a quick glance at Flik, then approached the stranger. "I'm sorry to hear that. Want some fish?"

A small, curly-haired head appeared from behind the man. "We're going to get a goat!"

"Oh," Viktor said and made a show of scratching his head in confusion. "So... 'no' to the fish?"

The child laughed, and Flik joined the group. He offered his hand to the cart horse's inquisitive nose and invited the pair to join them for the evening meal. They readily agreed. The man was Anders, and the dark-haired moppet was his daughter, Disa. They shared a meal of flat bread, fish, and cheese, and afterwards, Disa sat on Viktor's knee as he cut slices of apple for her.

Anders was a taciturn man, but they hadn't spent years in the Liberation Army with Humphrey without learning a trick or two. Before long, they had him talking about his orchard and the farmer on the western bank with whom he traded every year, cider apples for a pig or goat. This brought him back to the bridge at Meenoma. He'd arrived in the village that morning, only to discover that the bridge had been destroyed two days ago.

"'Destroyed'?" Viktor echoed, surprised. He'd expected it to be something like when Radat closed their sluice gate for repairs.

"Went up in flames," Anders said. "And they didn't bother to spread the news, did they? The tight-lipped bastards."

"Da!" Disa giggled, and Viktor ruffled her hair.

"Was it an accident?" Flik asked.

"Reckon so." Anders wrapped the last of the fish in a piece of bread and licked his fingers. "Either that, or it was those ninjas."

"Ninjas!" Viktor and Flik both exclaimed.

"Well, they've got those ninjas in Eyes' Woods now, don't they?"

They tried, but Anders could tell them no more about the ninjas. He wasn't one to listen to rumors, he said.

It grew dark, and Viktor entertained them all with tales of their adventures. When it began to rain again in earnest, Anders and Disa bedded down underneath their cart. Viktor made a quick circuit around the camp while Flik cleaned up. He checked the security of Anders' horse and planned how to best get their guests to safety in case of an attack. He didn't think it would be necessary. Even with the rumors of bridge-destroying ninjas, this stretch of road was fairly tame. In all probability, the most dangerous thing in the area was a stray skunk or two.

Viktor returned to the tent and removed his boots--he couldn't do so inside without elbowing Flik. He crawled inside and tried to get comfortable. Eventually, he settled for nothing poking him in the back.

"We should get a bigger tent next time," he said.

"We only use it when it rains."

That was true. They both preferred the open air--or a nice inn with a couple of pretty maids.

"Still, a bigger one wouldn't hurt. Would it?"

There was a soft rustle like Flik had just shrugged in the dark. "It's more to carry," he said. "Besides, I believe your exact words at the time were 'Are you out of your mind? More canvas means less beer money.'"

"Ah. Well... when you put it that way, Flik, I was right."

Flik swatted him, and Viktor laughed.

"Oh, you're so violent!"

"You're growing on me."

"Now that," the Star Dragon Sword said, "is not going to be conducive to pleasant dreams."

Why couldn't his sword ever just go to sleep like a normal person?

"What are you nattering on about now?" Viktor said.

The sword ignored him. "In fact, it sounds like you're suffering from a particularly nasty fungal infection--Creeping Viktor."

Flik chuckled.

"And while we're on the topic of nightmarish things--"

"Go to sleep," Viktor growled.

"--I vote for a bigger tent--"

"One more word, and you're out in the rain."

"--because this one smells too much like Viktor's feet."

"That's it!" Viktor grabbed the sword, but Flik caught his arm before he could chuck it outside. "Hey!"

"Give it to me," Flik said.

Viktor didn't move.

Flik sighed, then skimmed his hand down Viktor's arm and tugged at his wrist. "Come on, there's room on my side for it."

"There's plenty more room outside."

Flik tugged on his wrist again. "Viktor, you know it will get revenge."

The sword chuckled.

"Do your worst," Viktor told it. "I can handle it."

Flik leaned close and whispered in his ear. "If I spend all night helping you fight your sword, I will get revenge."

Okay... Viktor wasn't sure that he could handle Flik's worst. He handed the sword over.

"Fine. You make friends with it."

Flik murmured something to the sword, and Viktor lay down and turned his back on them both. A few moments later, Flik spooned up behind him.

"Flik?" They were used to tight quarters, but this was something new.

"I might sleep with _Odessa_, but there's no way I'm snuggling up to your sword."

"I should think not," the Star Dragon Sword muttered. "I'm a sword, not a security blanket."

Flik went taut as a bowstring behind him. "Are you," he asked quietly, "implying something about _Odessa_?"

There was a pause as if the sword was actually thinking for once. Maybe it thought Flik was scary, too.

"Would I do that?" it finally said.

"Not if you're as smart as you claim to be."

"Well, that settles it," Viktor said. "You know that thing's a braggart--"

"Go to sleep, Viktor," the sword said.

"--if not an outright liar."

"Go to sleep, Viktor," Flik said.

"Mmm... if you insist..."

He _was_ tired, and Flik was a lot warmer than he would have expected. If it were summer, the heat at his back would have bothered him. It didn't now, though. It was... cosy. He fell asleep wondering how someone as skinny as Flik could be so warm.

  
He dreamt of Daisy.

It was her birthday, and she was wearing the dress his mother had made for her. She was all bright blue ruffles and glossy dark curls. She looked... ridiculously like a girl.

Grandmother warned her to be careful with her new dress and let them out to play. They went to the duck pond. Viktor showed off by climbing a tree and then using it to scale the wall. When he reached the top, he posed victoriously.

Daisy laughed at him. He stood looking down at her, watching the wind play in her hair and billow her skirt. She was beautiful all lively like that. He'd never really noticed before.

A man stepped up behind her then, and put his hands on her shoulders. It was Neclord, but Viktor didn't know him.

"Give me the sword," the man told him.

Viktor was only twelve; he didn't have a sword.

"The Star Dragon Sword," the man said.

Viktor shook his head. "I think you're confused."

He jumped off the wall, and Daisy ran to him, laughing. "The sword in your hand, Silly."

He glanced down--he did have a sword. When had that happened? It was heavy and almost a big as he was.

"This?" he asked the man.

"Yes. Give it to me."

"Well, if you want it..." Viktor stepped toward the man, then looked at the sword again. It had a strange, gnarled face. Swords weren't supposed to have faces. "Isn't it kinda ugly?"

The man held out his hands. Viktor raised the sword.

Suddenly, the sword weighed nothing at all. Daisy moved, and the blade was at her neck. No, it was through her neck--

  
Viktor jerked awake, blood pounding in his ears.

"Shh, he's not here. He's dead, Viktor. You killed him."

Viktor turned. "Flik?"

"Yes."

"You're awake?"

Flik didn't answer.

After a moment, Viktor woke up a bit more. "Wait..." He rubbed his eyes. "Forget that I asked that."

"Figured it out for yourself, did you?" Flik asked, a smile in his voice.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm not a total idiot."

"Well, he's almost right," the Star Dragon Sword told Flik. They both ignored it.

"I meant to ask if I woke you," he explained.

"Ah, that is a better question."

"Well?"

"Hmm?" Flik shifted and almost kneed him. Viktor put a hand out to protect himself from errant limbs.

"Did I?"

"Don't worry about it. You know I'm a light sleeper. If it hadn't been you, it would have been something else."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

Flik sounded sleepy, but Viktor didn't want to close his eyes yet. He cast about for something else to say.

"Do you think it could be the ninjas?"

"No," Flik said. "Ninjas are too quiet to wake me up in the middle of the night."

"Not that, the ghosts."

"What?" Flik sat up.

"The disappearances," Viktor said. "Do you think ninjas are doing the haunting?"

"Dead ninjas?"

"Are you being deliberately obtuse?"

"Me?"

"You do it sometimes," Viktor said. "To distract me, I think."

"I didn't think you noticed."

The Star Dragon Sword piped in. "And I didn't think he knew the word 'obtuse.'"

Viktor pillowed his head on his arms. "You know... Flik... I'm glad you're my friend."

"Instead of your enemy?"

Viktor hadn't meant it that way, but that was true, too.

"Yeah," he said. He thought he could sleep again now.

"Do you think it's ninjas?" Flik asked.

"I don't know... It could be."

"Burning a bridge, though? In peacetime? That doesn't sound like them."

Viktor agreed, but... "Kage would have done it."

"True," Flik said. "But I doubt there's anyone around here who could afford to make it worth his while."

"What about the disappearances?"

"Seriously?" Flik lay back down. "I think ghosts are more likely."

"There's no--"

"I know," Flik said, putting a hand on Viktor's chest. "I'm just making a point. If there really was a hidden ninja village there, no one would know about it."

"Not if the ninjas were any good."

"Exactly."

"But... couldn't it be ninjas who failed their training or something? Ninja wannabes?"

The Star Dragon Sword snorted. "What, like you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Viktor said. "I am everything that I want to be."

"Good thing you're not ambitious--"

Flik rolled over and faced the sword. "If I spend all night listening to you bickering with him, I will get revenge."

The sword's mouth snapped shut with an audible _clink_, then there was nothing but the steady beat of rain against the canvas. Viktor let the sound lull him to sleep, wondering as he did how someone got revenge on a sword.

* * *

**Note:**

(1) Chapter title is from "A Memory" by Adah Isaacs Menken. 


	3. He will wake tomorrow

**Six Eyes' Woods**  
a Suikoden I & II fic by Seiji

(Apologies for the shortness of this chapter. It gave me a hard time.)

* * *

**III**: _He will wake to-morrow, and cheer ye in your tents at dawn_

Anders and Disa left before dawn the next morning. A few wisps of conversation and a horse's nicker roused Viktor just enough for him to roll over and sprawl across the blankets Flik had abandoned.

He slept until the birds grew too raucous to ignore, which seemed like no time at all. He'd never been to an area so thoroughly infested with songbirds, and considering some of the places he'd been--Mt. Tigerwolf and North Sparrow Pass, Banner Forest and Erud Forest, and even the Great Forest--that was really saying something. Their abundance made him a trifle uneasy. It felt unnatural, but what could he say? There could hardly be anything nefarious about a bunch of chirpy little birds, could there?

Still, if they ever returned this way, they'd have to bring a pair of hawks.

Viktor dug around for his belt while he considered the problem. Where could they get their hands on a couple of large, airborne predators? Would they even be able to handle them? Flik would look dashing as a falconer, but--ah! His belt.

He fastened it, then pulled on his boots and remembered the ninjas.

Ninjas! The human equivalent of hawks if there ever was one. If Eyes' Woods was crawling with them, it would be a simple matter to find one, follow him back to his village, and convince the Grand Ninja Master of the amazing health benefits of sparrow-and-blackbird pie.

Viktor clapped his hands together and grinned.

A perfectly pointless plan! He liked it. Having the Star Dragon Sword around quickly taught a man that it was far, far better to be the fool behind the errands than the fool's errand boy. And if he and Flik weren't careful, that's exactly what they'd be, errand boys for a talking scrap of tin--Speaking of which, where was it? It didn't seem to be in the tent...

He crawled out and found Flik. He was down by the river, eating an apple. The Star Dragon Sword was on the grass beside him. By the angle at which it rested, Viktor was certain he'd interrupted a conversation. He went over to rescue Flik, the poor bastard.

He scooped up the sword and secured it to his belt with a thong.

"Morning."

Flik took the last large bite from his apple and raised its core in greeting. The Star Dragon Sword made a noise not unlike a griffin coughing up a hairball. And they were the morning people in their little group!

"Well?" Viktor asked.

Flik swallowed. "I don't know."

"That seems unlikely."

"We aren't in a hurry." Flik switched the apple core to his left hand and gave the stem a twist.

"Nope," Viktor said. "We sure aren't. We're just going to see a man--who may or may not exist--about a sword. No hurry at all."

"Can't you keep even one fact in that little pea brain of yours?" the Star Dragon Sword said. "I told you. He'll be there. Nikko is a genius--"

"Was a genius," Viktor said. "He sharpened you three hundred years ago--if you're to be believed."

"His skill is without equal! It was a generation before my edge began to dull."

"I thought," Flik said, "that you spent those years asleep in the cave at Qlon."

"Bah! That was a nap!"

"Some nap," Viktor said. "I asked around after getting saddled with you. The priests all said you'd been there for ages."

"What would they know? They weren't exactly coming 'round my place for tea and biscuits every day, were they? Besides," the sword said, turning its eyes to Flik, "who's to say I was a sword that whole time? This form doesn't always suit my purpose, you know."

Flik looked intrigued.

"You're delusional," Viktor told it. "Come on, Flik, you tell him. He's got us looking for a three-hundred-year-old blacksmith. What's he got, the True Anvil Rune or something?"

"There is more than one type of immortality," Flik said.

"And more than one type of insanity--"

"Nikko will be there," the Star Dragon Sword insisted.

"Sure he will," Viktor said and gave it the same pat on the head he'd give an amusing child. "And the beauty of it is, if he's waited around this long, he'll still be there whenever the hell we show up."

Flik twisted the apple stem again. It broke off, and he jumped slightly and stared at it like he'd forgotten it was in his hands.

"So..." Viktor said. "Let's not backtrack yet. Let's go check out the ashes in Meenoma. Maybe they left a sign or something. 'This bridge burned courtesy of your local secret ninja village.'"

Flik almost smiled. His eyes were full of laughter even as his face was busy saying, _There's no way I'm going to encourage your antics._ It was part of what made Flik the best partner a man could have.

Flik tossed the apple core into the river and stood. "Yes," he said. "Let's."

They broke camp with the ease of long practice. In less than twenty minutes, they were back on the road to Meenoma, and Viktor was polishing an apple on his shirt and singing under his breath.

"_Ninja hunting we will go, ninja hunting we will go; Heigh-ho, the--_"

"Does any one," the Star Dragon Sword said loudly, "have any cotton for my ears?"

Viktor thumped it, then swore. The sword sputtered and shook globs of crushed apple off itself. And Flik laughed so hard, he tripped over a rut in the road.

"Dammit! I was going to eat that!"

"Help yourself," the sword said and spat a chunk at him.

It was nearly another ten minutes before Flik could walk again.

  
Towards noon, a boy joined them. He had blonde hair which looked as if it had been cut by a blind man--or by Viktor's barber, who was none other than Viktor himself.

Flik wasn't the best judge, but the boy couldn't have been more than nine... Ten at the most... Maybe eleven? In any case, he was too young to be a likely focal point for another gathering of the Stars of Destiny. Flik saw no harm in allowing him to tag along.

The boy held a fishing pole and a string of fair-sized fish, and he circled 'round Flik and Viktor with great interest. Viktor, of course, wasn't content to just leave the kid alone.

"Hey," he said. "Nice catch!"

The boy circled them again, then settled into a backwards gait, facing them instead of the road.

"Hey," the kid echoed.

Flik nodded at him.

"Going to town?" the boy asked.

"That depends," Viktor said.

The boy blinked.

"We're going to Meenoma," Flik said.

"That's town," the boy said.

"Well," Viktor said, "that settles it, then. Flik?"

"Yes?"

"Let's go to town!"

The kid edged closer to Flik, but kept looking at Viktor. Flik had seen similar looks on the faces of children seeing Bolgan breathe fire for the first time.

They walked in silence for a dozen strides.

"I'm Henning," the boy said.

"Really?" Viktor asked. "I thought you were fishing."

"I was fishing," Henning said. His brows scrunched together.

"Then what are the fish for?" Viktor said. "Oh, don't tell me," he continued, his voice lowered conspiratorially. "They're bait for the hens!"

The furrows in Henning's brow deepened, then disappeared in sudden understanding. He turned to Flik and bombarded him with questions.

"You're not bandits, are you? Is he your brother? Are you taking him to the doctor? Is he one of the special people? Momma says the neighbor's oldest girl is one of the special people because she's way older than me and still learning from the same lesson books as I am. Can you believe it? The same ones--"

Flik smiled, but didn't dare look Viktor's way. If he laughed any more today, he'd bruise his ribs.

"Whoa, kid," Viktor said. "Slow down."

Henning stopped walking, and Flik bumped into him.

"I'm surrounded by special people," the Star Dragon Sword muttered.

Flik was glad that Henning didn't seem to notice. Bandits and imbeciles were one thing. Men with talking swords were another matter entirely.

"Why did you think we were bandits?" Viktor asked.

Henning shrugged.

"They stole my uncle's horse, didn't they?" Henning said. "And killed his assistant."

"Where?" Flik said.

"The woods. That way." Henning pointed to the western bank.

Flik exchanged a look with Viktor. They'd laughed about it, but at least one person had really disappeared.

* * *

**Note:**

(1) Chapter title is from "Saved" by Adah Isaacs Menken. 


End file.
